


Best-Effort Service

by babykid528



Category: Star Trek RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Delivery Person Chris, Fluff, M/M, Scheming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-06
Updated: 2015-01-06
Packaged: 2018-03-06 08:12:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3127412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/babykid528/pseuds/babykid528
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU - Chris is a post-grad/package delivery person and Zach is a regular on his delivery route.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Best-Effort Service

**Author's Note:**

> This was a prompt I gave myself for my Holiday Gift Fic challenge, but I didn't get to it before Christmas, so I've taken a stab at it now.

“Hey, Bruce!” Chris calls out as he enters the apartment building lobby. “How’s the wife today?”

Bruce, one of the building’s rotating doormen, looks up from his desk at the young deliveryman as he enters and smiles.

“Hey, Chris. She’s doing well.” He greets him before asking, “How’s that thesis coming along?”

“Ah, you know,” Chris sighs, waving his tablet a little. “It’s nothing I can’t handle.”

Bruce laughs, “I’ve no doubt of that, Boy Genius. Where are you headed today?”

“I have something for 10G and another one for 12C,” Chris says.

Bruce pulls up his records on his desktop computer and frowns.

“Another one for 12C?” He asks, eyebrow quirked.

Chris grins and shrugs, “I know. Fourth time this week.”

“Tenth time this month,” Bruce adds.

Chris nods.

Bruce just shakes his head as he scans his screen.

“Well, okay then,” He says. “10G wants me to hold onto her packages until this evening, so I’ll keep that one in the office. Let me just call up to 12C and make sure he’s in.”

Chris puts the tablet on the desk so Bruce can sign it before passing 10G’s package over. He balances the tablet on top of 12C’s package then and leans against the desk as he waits for Bruce to place his call.

“Mr. Quinto?” Bruce says into the phone. “It’s Bruce from the front desk. Yes, sir, you’re package has arrived. Yes, sir. I’ll send the kid up right away. Thank you, sir.”

Bruce motions for Chris to head to the elevator before he even hangs up the phone.

Chris shoots him a little salute, grin lopsided, as he passes and enters the elevator.

If asked, and Chris deigned to offer a truthful answer, he would admit that 12C is his favorite stop on his route. Mr. 12C, Zach Quinto, happens to be one of the hottest guys Chris has ever met and Chris is happy for any and all chances to get a look at him.

When Chris reaches 12C’s door he buzzes the doorbell once before knocking twice.

_*BzzzzKnockKnock*_

Zach always opens the door as soon as his second knock is complete, like clockwork.

“Chris,” Zach says, smiling wide.

“Hey, Zach,” Chris replies. For the longest he would only call Zach ‘Mr. Quinto.’ But the formality had made Zach so obviously uncomfortable that Chris happily agreed to use his first name when Zach asked him to.

“Thanks for bringing that up,” Zach says, reaching for the box in Chris’ arms.

“Oh, right,” Chris says, almost caught staring, as he fumbles things for a moment before getting the box safely in Zach’s hands, “It’s not a problem. It’s my job even, so, I’m happy to bring it up.”

There’s an awkward pause after the package exchange where they just kind of stand staring at one another and then Chris starts.

“Sorry, I need you to sign for that,” Chris says, shaking his head as if to clear it.

Zach smiles at him, amused, before Chris passes him the tablet to sign.

“You have a busy route today?” Zach asks as he takes longer than usual to sign his name.

Chris shrugs, “No, not really. It should be an easy day.”

“That’s good,” Zach says and he looks like he really means it.

Chris nods, shifting on his feet. “Yeah, it is.”

“You have time for a quick soda or something?” Zach asks, looking up again at Chris.

Chris blinks at him but nods again.

“Umm,” he clears his throat. “Yeah, sure. I’m actually pretty thirsty.”

It’s not exactly against protocol, but Chris knows he shouldn’t really be stepping into Zach’s apartment for a mid-afternoon break. Not when his truck is waiting outside and he’s only halfway through his delivery route.

Zach closes the door behind him though and leads him into the kitchen before Chris can back out.

“Is cola okay?” Zach asks, leaving the package on the kitchen counter before opening the fridge door.

“Umm, sure,” Chris answers.

Zach passes him a can of soda from behind the fridge door. Chris takes it and lays his tablet on the counter beside Zach’s box before opening the soda to take a sip.

Zach pulls his own can of cola from the fridge and invites Chris to sit with him at the little breakfast nook area. Chris complies.

He looks around the place then, taking in the sparse but neat decorations, and gestures to Zach.

“You have a nice apartment,” he says. It’s the polite thing to say, but it also happens to be true.

“Thanks,” Zach says.

“I think mine might be half this size,” Chris tells him. “I mean, it’s actually post-grad student housing, but still.”

Zach nods. “I bet you don’t have nearly enough space for all those books.”

Chris watches Zach’s warm eyes sparkling with the tease and he relaxes into his seat.

“We should swap, really,” he says, catching Zach off guard and making him laugh. “You obviously don’t have enough books to fill this space. It would be the logical thing to do.”

“Yeah well,” Zach laughs, “if it would be the logical thing to do, I guess we better do it.”

Chris blushes, embarrassingly, at Zach’s unintentional double entendre. His embarrassment at blushing, of course, only makes him blush harder.

“Are you okay?” Zach asks. Beneath his genuine concern Chris can see mischief though and he knows without having to ask that Zach said what he did on purpose.

“Yeah, fine,” Chris says, hiding behind his cola can and watching Zach closely.

He’s been here four times this week alone, ten times this month, and maybe twenty-five times since he started the job a few months ago. Zach has always been friendly. Maybe more than friendly, looking back on it. Before this afternoon, Chris never would have thought to presume that Zach might be flirting, but he's sitting at his table now, drinking his soda, and getting flustered as Zach casually throws innuendo as him. This has to constitute as flirting.

Besides, no one customer on his route has ordered nearly as many things as Zach has in the time Chris has been working as a deliveryman.

_It's all so suspicious..._

“What’s got you making that face?” Zach asks, voice amused.

Chris sighs, easing up on the scrutiny.

“I was just wondering what you could possibly be ordering so frequently,” Chris tells him.

Zach blushes then, just like he’s been caught out, and Chris leans forward a little to watch the pink stain creep across his face.

“What do you do for a living?” Chris asks then.

“I’m an actor,” Zach says. “Mostly a voice actor, actually.”

“You must be doing pretty well for yourself then,” Chris says, gesturing to the apartment once again and then to the package on the counter, “Especially if you’re spending so much money on the internet.”

It’s a judgmental statement, but Chris’ delivery is more curious than critical.

Zach seems to pick up on it because he hides behind his own can of cola, but he doesn’t look embarrassed.

“I do okay,” he replies.

Chris feels emboldened by the reply.

“Do you actually need any of this stuff or do you have a retail addiction?” He asks, teasing.

Zach looks unsure how to answer that, so of course, Chris pushes it more.

“Or maybe you’re just addicted to seeing my face,” he says.

And there it is, out there at last.

Zach’s blush flares brighter red and Chris almost knocks over his drink.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” he says, catching it before it spills.

“No, no it’s okay,” Zach tells him, reaching out a hand to lay over Chris’ to help steady the can.

He swallows hard at the skin-to-skin contact and Chris shivers.

“No harm,” Zach says then, locking eyes with Chris’.

Chris is sure he’s having palpitations. The longer Zach touches him, the harder his heart seems to pound in his chest.

“Chris,” Zach says then, rubbing his thumb over the side of Chris’ hand. It’s such a light caress, alarmingly intimate because of it, and Chris shivers again.

“Did you need _any_ of these things you’ve been ordering?” Chris asks, his voice full of something like awe.

Zach snorts and averts his eyes, but speaks honestly, “Not really, no.”

Chris laughs at that, a startled bark of a sound that calls Zach’s gaze back to his and makes Zach laugh as well.

“You could have saved yourself some money and just asked for my number, you know?” Chris tells him.

“I didn’t know, actually,” Zach points out, “That’s kind of why I went with the stupid, sneaky plan to keep seeing you.”

“Well,” Chris says, staring at their hands, still pressed together on the cola can.

Chris releases the can from his grip, dislodging Zach's hand from his in the process. Zach moves to pull his hand back out of Chris’ space, but Chris turns his on the table and captures Zach’s before he can take it out of reach.

“I would have given you my number,” he says then, voice full of conviction, “on day one.”

Zach searches his face for something as he listens to that admission.

“Day one?” He asks.

Chris licks his lips and nods, “Yeah. Day one.”

“Well,” Zach says, lacing their fingers together, “I shouldn’t have wasted so much time then.”

They stare at one another until Chris gets a text and it breaks the moment.

Chris reluctantly detangles their fingers and checks his phone.

“It’s Bruce,” he says, sighing, “He’s wondering why I’m not back down yet.”

Zach smiles as he stands.

“You better head back out to work, I guess,” he says.

Chris nods, standing himself. He grabs his tablet and follows Zach back toward the door, turning just before he exits. He rifles around in his pocket for a moment and finds a scrap of paper to write his phone number on. He tucks it into Zach’s hand when he’s finished.

“You should call me,” he says, “Soon.”

Zach ducks his head a moment before looking back up at Chris and promises to do just that.

Before Chris can turn and let himself out the front door, Zach reaches up and caresses his cheek.

“Thanks for stopping by,” he says and Chris doesn’t know what to say.

Zach saves him from coming up with a response though by kissing him softly, just a brief brush of lips.

“I’ll call you tonight,” Zach promises.

Chris is sure the grin he leaves with is goofy as hell, but he doesn’t care. If he plays his cards right, maybe Zach will wipe it off his face later. With his tongue.

Chris can only hope.


End file.
